Because we’re cool like that...

I have a few questions for you. Think about them.

Do you think coffee is bad for health? Are you interested in weird medicine? Have you ever been to Guanajuato? Do you prefer Adidas or Puma? Did you have a good time last Valentine´s day? Aren´t you worried about Global warming? Do you have Netflix to watch a great movie once in a while? Do you love yor family? Are you a patriot or a Teporaca?

If you have no answer for the questions above let me tell you you have to read this Backpacker issue.Say no more. Enjoy it!

PS: Go watch this movie, go watch this movie, go watch…

The Ghost Editor

Editorial:

People say “Youth is a Blessing” too often and I’ve always wondered what they’ve meant. What actually defines youth? Few years have gone by since I was born, and still don’t know when I’ll lose this blessing they talk about. Also, what exactly am I losing?

I can see we might lose some of our youth as we get older, I am referring to things like elasticity, physical beauty, energy, in general, etc. But they keep telling me that I’m “young”, yet I no longer feel energized all the time like I used to, and I’m barely 16. There are some things that can change that instantaneously, a revolution in your body and “youth”, such as a sincere kiss, a tight hug, heart-touching loving words. They seem to sting me electrically and I’m not sure if I am losing something or gaining something else in return, it’s a strange feeling. But then, there are those, the lucky ones, the ones who will “live forever”, the ones who haven’t lost most of their energy as I have at such young age, jumping and dancing in their party clothes, bouncing their wild hair freely, screaming at the top of their lungs far too many times... Those have learned to see the present day just as a new opportunity, a daily chance to simply be happy, or perhaps they were born knowing such truth already, that everyday should be lived with joy and everything negative should be treated with the least amount of energy as possible. We, the ones who ran at ten and walked back home slowly at eleven, we can maybe begin to follow that same thought of theirs, beginning to treat each day with that special “blessing” that youth empowers us with. Learning to make sure that sincere kisses, tight hugs, and heart-touching loving words only recharge us with more energy instead of engulfing our head with strange sensations and confusion.

byErick García Prose: #10

Valentines day is one of America’s most popular holidays; the routes of Valentines Day go back to an ancient roman fertility festival made in mid February, called Lupercalia.

But later the Catholic Church chose mid-February for Valentines Day, in order to Christianize the celebration. But who was Saint Valentine? There is no actual fact of who is the real Valentine because there were many valentines in those times, but one of them was known for being sentenced to death for performing marriage ceremonies in secret after emperor Claudius II banned it. And he decided to ban it because he thought that single men made better soldiers.

Pope Gelasius declared the 14th of February in honor of the softhearted Valentine at the end of the fifth century.

It wasn’t until the 1300s that the holiday became associated with love and romance, back then, people also believed that that date was the beginning of the bird’s mating season.

By the 15th century the first love letters began to appear, and by the 17th century it became a tradition in England to exchange love letters and cards. And shortly Valentines Day became known in the U.S. , and by the 1840s this holiday became one of the major consumer holidays.

Each year on February 14th, many people exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers with their special “valentine.” But the day of romance we call Valentine’s Day is named for a Christian martyr and dates back to the 5th century…

Valentine’s Day: the Ugly trUthbyDaniel Estrada

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

Fun Fact: today, approximately, a billion cards are sent each year on Valentines Day, more than in any other holiday, except Christmas; 35 million of heart-shaped chocolate boxes are sold and more than 220 million roses are produced just for this day.

So that’s the real story of Valentines Day, mostly a holiday to spend money. But don’t worry if you are a loner, you can still buy ice cream, watch “The Notebook” and cry yourself to sleep and forget about the past day. That’s very common too.

And here’s a short playlist for all you love birds out there, this can come in handy ;)1. Drunk In Love – Beyoncé2. You’re Beautiful – James Blunt3. I Will Wait – Mumford and Sons4. I’m Yours – Jason Mraz5. Sugar – Maroon 56. Just The Way You Are – Bruno Mars7. You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift

Extraordinary MEdical casEs

you Won’t BEliEvE

byAmauri Romero

Life manifests itself in a unique and unpredictable way for some people. A few of them are very lucky, acquiring incredible abilities from birth or developing them throughout their lives. Some others have the misfortune of being born with corporal disadvantages. These kinds of things that happen to certain people are the ones that most people have a huge interest on these days, so if you are one of those people, this article is for you.

Having someone always by your side sounds good, doesn’t it? And having someone that always has your back? Well, imagine if these happened to you every day for the next 23 years. That was the time that Edward Mordake might have spent with someone attached to him at the back of his head. The legend says he was an English nobleman who most probably lived in the 19th century. He was born with a parasite female face at the back of his head. It is said that the face couldn’t talk but cry and laugh. For Edward it was a curse. When he cried, it laughed; he swore it whispered very bad and nasty things in his sleep. He believed it was evil. At the age of 23 he committed suicide. It is said he left a letter in which he wrote that before his burial, the second face was destroyed.

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

Being able to see in the dark is something that man has been trying to achieve since old times. That is why we’ve created torches, lamps, light bulbs, flashlights, etc. But there is a boy in China that was born with amazing eyesight. His name is Nong Yousui and he is able to see in Pitch Black. His eyes are bright blue and show a green glow when illuminated with a flashlight. He declares that he experiences discomfort in bright sunlight but can see perfectly in total darkness. A scientist made him solve a set of questions in a dark room. In complete blackness he completed his task without complication. It proved that his night vision is as good as a daytime vision.

Getting a “Lithopedion” is not like catching flu. It is neither a sickness nor an allergy. It only occurs to very few unlucky women. From the Greek roots “lithos-“(stone) and “-pedos” (child), it refers to a very rare phenomenon. When a woman’s pregnancy period lasts more than usual, the baby eventually dies. If the fetus is too large for the mother’s body to absorb, the fetus calcifies in order to shield the woman’s womb from the baby’s death tissue to avoid infection. The result is literally giving birth to a rock.

One of the most outstanding cases of a Lithopedion is from an 82-year-old Colombian woman. She had the Baby-rock for a period of 40 years! And she didn’t really know it was inside her. She thought that she was suffering from a very severe stomachache. These people might sound crazy for you, but you should consider yourself lucky. Life likes to play hard on us, people, and sometimes it puts on some very hard circumstances. So, if you are complaining for being picked last in some game, think about how it would be with an evil sister just behind your head all the time.

The most important concept of life of a person is family. They are there for us since the moment we are born. Nobody else will give all their love to us without conditions. Of course there is not such a thing as a perfect family; still the presence or lacking of it has a very huge impact on our personalities and our ways of seeing the world. There are people who have succeeded because they counted on the support of their families; and there are people who have failed because they had the misfortune of being born in a dysfunctional one. All of its members are very important too. All of them have a very decisive role during our formation, especially parents whether married or divorced. All of these affect a person’s way of being. A person can be mean or kindhearted, and many times it is related with family issues. In some cases the absence of a parent, due to a divorce or a death, has a very negative effect on a child. Studies have shown that a child growing up without a parent could develop some behavioral problems, a controlling boy or a growing-too-fast girl for instance. These two examples may seem different but actually they have the same origin. The boy who likes to be mean and be the “controller” of everything tries to hide the absence of his father, like many bullies nowadays. The poor girl that had to grow up before time is because without her mother in her life she had to assume the role of an adult and be more mature about life issues. Another example of these I from one of the people a love and care the most. This person had to grow in absence of his mother. This caused him to overcome problems that he was not prepared to face. There are many incredible stories about people who have succeeded thanks to the support of their families. Bethany Hamilton, the famous surfer known for her inspiring story about her losing her arm in a shark attack. The inspiring part of her story is that even when she lost her arm, she didn’t give up. With the support of her family, she managed to keep on her surfer career. She has won several firsts places despite her incapacity. I think that if she didn’t have that support of her family, she wouldn’t continue surfing on these days. There are some exceptions about how some people succeed because of their family for example the famous novel ‘In Cold Blood’, by Truman Capote. This true-story-based novel is about the two protagonists that commit a crime. The first one, named Perry came from a dysfunctional family but was quite rational; the other character is Dick, who had it all in his life, but he was a total psychopath. This shows that even coming from a good family, a person can become mad and do bad things. Family is family, functional or dysfunctional, married or divorced, present or absent. It is the best to love them until the very end, despite all the problems that come up. Our formation begins there and continues by creating a family of our own.

byAmauri Romero

the impact Of family’s presence in a persOn’s life

Drinking coffee is an everyday activity. People drink coffee to wake up, get energy, to spend some time chit chatting, and so many more things, but some people may not know that drinking coffee is actually a very good thing for you, and here are some facts of drinking it.

1. Coffee can increase you energy levels and make you smarter. Yes, smarter.

Coffee helps people feel less tired and increase their energy levels because of the caffeine it contains. The caffeine is absorbed into your bloodstream and goes into your brain, and that helps you improve many brain functions, like memory and even your mood.

2. Coffee can help you burn fat. Yes, this is getting better.

Drinking coffee helps you boost your metabolism, stimulating the nervous system, causing it to send signals to the fat cells to break down body fat.

3. Coffee may lower your risk of getting type II diabetes; protect you from Alzheimer, dementia, and Parkinson.

So, as you can see, coffee is wonderful. Helps you live longer, be healthy and even lose weight.

Everyone loves drinking coffee; teachers do it, parents do it, students do it to stay awake. Going to a coffee shop, reading a good book, hear smooth music. That’s a wonderful thing and can help you make friends, learn more and just relax.

There’s a coffee shop in pretty much every mall, plaza, or even OXXO. So have a cup of coffee, enjoy life and get skinnier while doing it. You wont regret it.

Benefits Of Drinking COffee

byDaniel Estrada

byJessica Mora

Have you ever wondered what happens to the Arctic with all the contamination issues we have nowadays? Greenpeace created a campaign called Save the Arctic that is focused on preventing the oil drilling and the industrial fishing. The cam-paign started in 2012 and focused on creating a sanctuary for the Arctic region like it used to be. Until now, governments and businesses treat the Earth as a product to be exploited and used to serve just the human needs and their desires. But there are solutions. This is what Save the Arctic is all about.

Our whole economic system is based this way, a forest is worthless unless it is cut down and then sold. But if we think about this fact, the economists that balance the books do not take into account the value of the work the forests do in order to provide rainfall, regulate the climate, and provide a habitat for most of the world’s plants and animal, not to mention that it provides food and shelter for millions of local people.

Save the Arctic is focusing on some factors we need to try to help right now. The first one is to defend the polar bears. Arctic provides home and shelter to incredible wildlife, from polar bears to blueberry walruses and mysterious narwhals, and they all have a thing in common, the depend on sea ice to survive, unfortunately, ice is vanishing way too fast. If the animals do not have sea ice to hunt, rest, and breed their chances for survival are under threat. If we allow this , experts warn that polar bears could disappear completely from the Arctic in 100 years.

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

An invitAtiOn tO sAve the ArCtiC

The Arctic is under threat from both climate change and oil drilling. Ice melt would contribute to rising sea levels, disrupt global weather patterns, and make warming happen faster. This would be devastating for the animals and for us, as well. As the climate change melts the Arctic ice, oil companies are moving in to extract more of the fossil fuels that are found here, not to mention once again how impossible and awful it would be an oil spill. This nightmare can happen. But Greenpeace created this project and working hard to halt climate change and to stop the oil rush. Remember protecting the Arctic means protecting us all, join the cause and let’s help save the Arctic.

This campaign is also asking help to stop oil spills. There is a new Arctic oil rush that be-gun. Companies like Shell, Gazprom, Statoil, and Exxon are trying to invade the fragi-le Arctic, risking a devastating oil spill worth only three years of oil. If we permit these companies to drill the oil it could leak beneath the ice for years, polluting the lands and livelihoods of people. I am sure you have heard about the Lego Company but did you know they had a partnership with Shell? Well, over 670000 around the world have jo-ined the campaign and Lego was not left behind as target of Greenpeace. Today, we have some good news: after a three-month campaign supported by more than a million people worldwide, Lego announced it will not renew its contract with Arctic destroyer Shell. Imagine how catastrophic an oil spill would be for the Arctic ecosystem, we got to do something now before it is too late.

sAve the

ArCtiC!

in the center Of mexicO

byMónica Martínez

20 000 pilgrims from all Mexico gathering together at 1:00 in the morning in January to climb a hill sounds extremely crazy. Well, that´s just how crazy we are about Him.

In Silao, Guanajuato there´s a hill called “El Cubilete”, a place where a monument in honor to Cristo Rey was raised during the war known as “la Cristiada”. Every year, large groups of young people walk around 18km towards Christ as a representation of their faith and willing to follow Him.

It all began back in 1920, when Emeterio Valverde Tellez, bishop of Leon, Guanajuato, traveled to Silao. When he saw the hill, which happens to be exactly the center of Mexico, he suddenly came with the idea of celebrating a mass in the top of it. His idea was not only approved, but the idea of making a record of the event with a monument to the Sacred Heart of Christ came out.

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

cerrO Del cUbilete

Despite the recent event, the construction continued, and the Cubilete hill began to be considered a symbol of the Catholic faith. By 1926, war broke out between the government and the church; la Cristiada began under the motto “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”One year after the war had begun, the construction was at last finished. Nevertheless, it didn´t last much: it was blown up by order of President Plutarco Elias Calles on January 10, one year later. Though the whole monument turned to ashes and dust, Jesus´s heart and head remained intact.

The war finally ended in 1929. Fifteen years later, Emeterio Valverde Tellez blessed the cornerstone to a second monument. This time, the monument would not be erected to the Sacred Heart of Christ, but to Christ as the King of Mexico, being crowned by two angels: one of them is the crown of the glory and the other one the crown of the martyrdom.

This is the Christ which drives us crazy; the Christ for which a lot of saints and martyrs died. The Christ for which 20 000 young people travel to Guanajuato to spend the whole night dancing and singing for him and the whole morning screaming, sweating, singing, cheering, with the feet hurting, and climbing a hill that represents a life following Christ; a life that tires us out, that causes pain, that seems endless. But nothing could ever be compared with the joy of reaching the Christ and falling at his feet knowing he is the one who brought you there.

By that time, the government didn´t quite like the church. In fact, the governor sent a message to the Bishop Emeterio telling him to “avoid the disorder”, stating his dislike with the idea. The Anticlerical Mexican Association then complained that the lands that the church wanted to use were private property and that they did not belong to the church. The complaint didn´t transcend, though, for the lands were donated for the cause by Jose Natividad Macias, heir of those lands.

This way, in January, 1923, Ernesto Filippi blessed the cornerstone of the monument. However, this little rebellion against the governor´s opinion was not for free; under the excuse that Filippi was “motivating pacific people to revel by exploding their religious emotions”, he was expelled from Mexico by President Alvaro Obregon.

Colegio de Chihuahua is well known for the amazing athletes that are currently studying in our school. The athletes have been forced to buy running shoes in order to don’t get injured while they are training and improve their abilities. Some of the most well-known sportswear factories ever are Adidas and Puma and also the oldest. What most of the people don’t know is that this brands were created by two Nazi brothers.

The Dassler BrothersbyJessica Mora

Here’s a Couple of Tennis Shoes

ACTUALLY OWNED BY THE GHOST EDITOR

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

Adidas was created in August the 18, in the year 1949 but the real story begins two decades earlier. In the year of 1924 Rudolph (Rudi) and Adolf (Adi) Dassler lived in a town in Herzegenaurach. Their father owned a shoe factory, their mother had a laundry, and Adi started making shoes in his mom’s wash room, that was how the factory started.The shoes quickly became part of the market and the European sports world. The shoes could be seen on the feet of every athletes in the 1928 Olympics. By that time of the year the Nazi party was rising, and they became part of it, but the brothers here having a hard time with each other. They began to bitterly turn on each other, there are some rumors that Adi reported Rudi as part of the Allies. By the mid-forties they didn’t consider themselves brothers anymore.

Rudi had enough, he left the factory and started his own brand, called Ruda and changed it later as Puma. Adi developed the signature of Adidas as a three stripe logo. One year the German national team wear Adidas and the next year Puma. But Rudi had it rough, he got into argument with the German coach and later on the team was sponsored just by Adidas. Nowadays the shoes are based in Herzogenaurach and both companies leave much to be desired. Shoes such as the Adidas Samba and the Puma Whirlwind have the clean and functional look the brothers came up with. What would have gotten if both of them continued to collaborate? It’s crazy what a little competition does for creativity and motivation.

the message behinD: little miss sUnshine

Little Miss Sunshine it’s a 2006 movie that tells the story of Olive Hoover and her journey along with her family to the beauty pageant under the same name as the movie title. The movie was acclaimed by critics and got several nominations for many awards including the Oscars. Even Abigail Breslin got nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award (consider she was only 8).

Curiosity grown into me about the movie through the years and I had the time to watch it until last Christmas break. I found so much meaning on it that I would love to share it through here. The movie is great when it comes to soundtrack, acting and the directing. But if you are planning to watch it, make sure you look further because writer Michael Arndt did a really good job.

If you ever watched beauty pageants of any kind, especially little girls’, you will see how much effort they put in their appearance. They spend money on makeup, hair and fake tans. They prepare their talents to show the audience how graceful they are and in the case of the children, they even have fake teeth!

byKarla Medina

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

The character of Olive Hoover shows the true beauty of children. How silly, funny and clueless a child can be is the true beauty of growing up. Without any makeup, without her hair done, and with some tooth missing still or wearing some inappropriate bikini, she was for sure the most beautiful girl in the world.

Her family is also quite relatable too. Her mom is struggling to keep her family together; her father considers himself as a motivational speaker but deep inside he is breaking down; her brother made a vote of silence until he gets what he wants and her uncle tried to commit suicide because of a broken heart. Her motor? Her crazy, dirty mouth grandpa.

Sounds like a really messed up family with a really crazy goal: leave everything behind to get on time to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. But the movie within has a lot of meaning, like the true beauty, the true meaning of family and how cool it is to have a VW Bus. It is definitely a movie that will cheer you up and appreciate many things.

WinnErs of this yEar’s tEporaca aWards:

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

byBrenda Ruacho

Teporaca is a very familiar name to the people who live in Chihuahua, especially to athletes. However, most of us have no idea what it means.

Teporaca was a Tarahumara warrior who lived in the XVII century. He was native of Tomochi, Chihuahua. It is believed he was baptized by Father Gerónimo Figueroa with the name of Gabriel Teporaca (or Tepórame). Teporaca had an excellent physical appearance, and he was able to go over great distances on foot without getting tired. He worked along with the missionaries at San Francisco de Borja until he realized the injustices toward his people. In 1652, he led several attacks against the Spaniards. Unfortunately, he was betrayed by his friends and hanged in the tallest tree of Teporame on March, 4 1653.

In February, 17 1987, the Teporaca award was born to congratulate the best athletes of Chihuahua State. The idea was originated by sports announcers, representing Mario de la Torre Hernandez, during a breakfast. The given name was Teporaca because the Indian Gabriel Teporame reflected all the qualities an excellent athlete must have. Among these qualities are spirit of sacrifice, well established goals, desire to win, etc.

This year, Premio Teporaca 2014 celebrated its XXVIII edition. It took place in Teatro de la Ciudad at the capital. More than 1300 athletes from all the state participated in this event. Two students of Colegio de Chihuahua, Karen Michell Acosta Hidalgo and Tania Paulina Parra Fuentes, were awarded with the bronze Teporaca because their outstanding participation in karate and tennis. Now that we know everything it involves, maybe we will have more motivation and encouragement in the sports we like.

frOm the Origins:

tO the present awarD:

American football evolved in the United States from the sport of rugby football. The first game was played on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams. Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of game in the United States. The NFL (National Football League) is the most popular football league in the world. The Super Bowl, its championship game, is the most watched sport event in the world. The Patriots is one of these teams, which have created history among the passing years.

Professional football arrived to New England until November 16, 1959 due to Billy Sullivan who was awarded with a franchise of the American Football league (AFL). At first, the choice of name was accomplished through a public contest. The popular choice and, of course, Sullivan election was “Boston Patriots”. Just after the name was selected the artist Phill Bissel drew a cartoon of a Minuteman preparing to snap a football; Sullivan liked so much the drawing that he selected “Pat Patriot” as the team logo. On April 1, 1960, the Boston University Field was selected as the fist home of the BOstOn PAtriOts.

New England Patriotsby

Brenda Ruacho

C O N T I N U E R E A D I N G . . .

When the NFL and AFL merged, in 1970, Patriots were placed at the AFC division, where they still play nowadays. The next year, they moved to a new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which would be their home for 30 years. As a result, they wanted to change the name to Bay State Patriots. The NFL rejected the name. Finally, on March 23, 1971, the team officially announced they would become the New England Patriots.

The team has had some successes and defeats during its history. During the 1970´s, the Patriots earned a berth to the playoffs in 1976 and 1978. Unfortunately, both times they lost at the first round. They returned to the playoffs until 1985 and made it all the way to the Super Bowl, which they lost against Chicago Bears 46-10. They would not make the playoffs again for nine years more.

The team changed ownership three times, at the lately 80´s and 90´s. on July 28, 1988, Victor Kiam purchased the Patriots from Sullivan family but it kept the team for only four years. He sold the Patriots to James Orthwein in 1992. He intended to move the team to St. Louis, Missouri, but on January 21, 1994, Robert K. Kraft became the fourth owner of the franchise and saved the team from the imminent move. He has owned the team since 1994.

The Patriots are a great football team. They had won 3 Super Bowls and some other titles. The, together with the Dallas Cowboys, are the only two teams to win three Super Bowls in a four year span. It has a total of 34 victories setting an all-time NFL record. Indeed, is a team which has achieved many goals on its last years.